So WikiLeaks Is Evil For Releasing Documents... But DynCorp Gets A Pass For Pimping Young Boys To Afghan Cops?

from the wtf dept

One refrain we keep hearing against Wikileaks is that the cable releases aren't really "whistleblowing," because they're not really revealing anything. However, it seems like each day there's another big revelation of rather horrible things being done (and covered up) by the US government. The latest, pointed out by Boing Boing, involves a report from a cable that US-based private security contractor DynCorp, who was hired by the US to train Afghani police, was apparently supplying drugs and young boys for a sort of sex party.

The details are horrifying. The Afghani interior minister apparently went to US officials to warn them that reporters were sniffing around this story, and urged them to try to kill the story. He specifically warned that this would look bad if the connection to DynCorp was made clear (he called them "foreign mentors"). Apparently, US diplomats told him not to worry, and the eventual story was in fact watered down greatly (until now, of course) calling the whole thing a "tribal dance," rather than a party where young boys wear "scanty women's clothes" and "dance seductively" before being "auctioned off to the highest bidder" for sex.

Oh, did we mention that DynCorp makes $2 billion per year -- 95% of which comes from American taxpayers.

And US government officials are declaring Wikileaks as an organization to shun and not to work with? What about DynCorp? Are their DNS providers pulling the plug? Are their banks shutting down their accounts? Are they being denounced by Hillary Clinton and Joe Lieberman? No? Why the hell not?

News Cycle

Is Wikileaks factoring enough of a delay in the release of these cables to allow an appropriate news cycle for some of these revelations? I get this feeling that DynCorp will be forgotten within the next 2 releases by other stuff that at least merits discussion!

Aren't they always telling us...

One of the things I like about Techdirt is the calm, analytical way it tries to present its views. Sometimes there's a tinge of sarcasm, humor or anger injected and that's cool, but that last paragraph sort of leaves a bad taste. I agree wholeheartedly that the government response to Wikileaks is BS, but lashing out is a little unlike Techdirt.

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This has been talked about by the press quite substantially for the last year. The practice is called "Bacha Bazi" (sp.?) and though it is illegal in Afghanistan, it is widely practiced by the elite and high ranking military officers. Boys are basically taken from their family, trained to dance in women's clothes for hours, and then pimped out to men at these Bachi Bazi parties as mostly political favors. This is not news... there is a documentary on it called "The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan".

This practice goes along with meetings between some the power brokers in Afghanistan. I am sure the US was well aware of it, and they no doubt would have wanted to keep under wraps any contractor who had been involved in this practice. Yet another problem with private contractors playing military games, they do not have the accountability the military does as private actors.

Yea, I am ok with anonymous screwing a bit with DynCorp. Just thinking about the children....

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From our point of view, the world can be a very ugly place. What we consider disgusting, abhorrent and should earn you a bullet in your head is perfectly accepted in other parts of the world. In some countries, women are for making babies while men (and boys) are for pleasure.

Personally, I find this just flat out nasty and where this is the custom, deserves to receive a low yield Cruise Missile. How do companies operate in this kind of environment? How do you get things done when you are required to operate in a "when in Rome" way of doing things?

I do not understand how an American company with American workers, former military members, can stand by and watch this type of behavior, much less promote it, god forbid participate in it.

I just don't understand the thinking of someone who would make this decision to go ahead and be involved with it. These are not war crimes, these are crimes against humanity, something which sorry to say, this company and its workers seem to have very little of.

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I do not understand how an American company with American workers, former military members, can stand by and watch this type of behavior, much less promote it, god forbid participate in it.

I just don't understand the thinking of someone who would make this decision to go ahead and be involved with it. These are not war crimes, these are crimes against humanity, something which sorry to say, this company and its workers seem to have very little of.

this is exactly the result of a lack of transparency and accountability. i'm willing to bet it's not the worst of what we'll see come from these leaks.

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And that's what I love about America; the ability to march into other countries, whore out their young men for gay sex parties, and refer to the natives as "foreigners" really fries by brain-pan to an exquisite degree.

Well America, you now know why you the private citizen have been targeted by terrorists.You now know that diplomats act like high school freshmen.What will you do about this? What can be done about this?I don't see anyone marching for Freedom of speech.Worried about being called a domestic terrorists and being disappeared to a "non exsistant" facility? I will be surprised if this makes the news on any major network.When does the responsibility of these actions shift from the government to the people?

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More like the officer going to every car going 15 miles over the speed limit and saying "Well done, you're awesome! No, I'm not going to give you a ticket, in fact, I'm going to GIVE YOU money!" while pulling you over for going 5 over the speed limit and giving you a large fine.

We're going OUT OF OUR WAY to not punish DynCorp and actually reward them instead. THATS the problem.

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I think this totally merited a vent and it's clear that Mike is a human being. One that shows much restraint... but there is so much bullshit going on right now and this story is really hitting home with some epic levels of bullshit far and beyond what I've ever seen on this site.

Re: What!?

I actually read quite a bit about this. Its pretty terrible. The boys are "bought" usually from poor families by men who act as their caretaker. They take these boys under the guise that they are giving them a "better life". The families are paid each month and often are in desperate need of the money and have no clue what their child is being used for. When the kid gets too old, they simply abandon or kill them. The boys are usually regularly beaten.

DynCorp should be brought to account for any activities in support of this crap. Thanks Wikileaks and the press for exposing such corruption and idiocy of our governmental policies! Let me just get out my credit card and make a donation to the cause.......

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yes its bad. very bad.
but your viewpoints are quite narrow and only looks to punish a single corporate entity and not those who enabled and looked the other way which i feel is a mistake. the military elements who knew about it and the political powers behind those who knew of it also need to be included in this as its a systemic problem and punishing just dyncorp alone does nothing to get rid of the problem, it only serves to put on a show to keep the masses happy... some other corporation would just step up in their place and perpetuate the problem further.

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I think some folks mistook my post for sarcasm. Venting is normal and human (and probably good for you now and then). The outrage at this incident is totally justified, but just jumping on board the rage bandwagon won't get much done. To Mike's credit, he must have the patience of a saint to have blogged about the issues he does for so long.

What to do? Well...

1. Contact your state officials (i.e. senators, state representatives, governor, mayors, President) describing your disgust in what our taxpayer money is being used for. Remind them you learned this from Wikileaks. ;)

2. Email Dyncorp describing how vile and immoral their business ehtical behavior is.

3. Email Cerberus Capital Management since they are owners of Dyncorp and inform them how this will surely bring the value of their stocks down.

As a user of the internet, be passionate, show empathy and do something about this. We are not gonna be able to do anything about if we only read about it. Remember what JFK said, "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."

Sorry for going out like that, but something needs to be done for once.

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mislead fail.

sure i get techdirt as the first link on just a simple search, click on the 'all 6 news articles' link and huffington post is first. and even with all that... so what? do you actually have a point or are you just trying to obfuscate the real issue?

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Then you need to damn the whole world, as Afghanistan is the largest producer of poppies, which arrives in the rest of the world as heroin. Everyone in country has knowledge of this, so they should all go to jail, be damned, and their personal websites attacked by the anons.

Joe Lieberman supports child rape

I can't believe how culturally insensitive you all are being, buggering little boys is a tradition passed down from father to son for thousands of years... All you western "goody two shoers" made such a hullabaloo about stoning women for being raped, that I thought the nitpickers would just let this one slide.

What's next? Are they going to stop people from sacrificing albino kids to bring in the crops next season? We are trying to win hearts and minds here folks!

Whoops... I'm embarrased

In my previous post, I stated to contact Cerberus Capital Management that their ownership will devalue their stocks. Just learned that Cerberus is a private equity firm so they don't offer any stocks to the general public.

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"What a sorry post. When you reach this sort of level, you know you have failed."

You would be the first to support censorship of the Internet (COICA and others) in the name of "protecting the children". And you know if such a censorship would have Wikileaks among its first victims.

So much for all those "we're doing it for the children" and "if you've got nothing to hide, why be afraid of being monitored every single second of your miserable life?".

I can imagine a discussion between afghan and american officials, and DynCorp executives, saying "it's ok, we'll use state secret to cover this up, and if someone reveals that, we'll call him a dangerous irresponsible pro-terrorist anarchist endangering lives"

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Nobody wants to censor wikileaks. wikileaks can post whatever they want that they own or have legal access to. they should not be permitted to reprint stolen, confidential, security related documents.

Censorship would by to say that Assange has no right to an opinion. He has all the right to express his opinions freely and in public. When he accepts stolen documents, and then holds and distributes state secrets, well, that is another story.

Mr Assange is more than free to express his opinions on fast cars, little boy parties, and any other topic he so chooses. He just has to do it without using stolen material or in violating public security.

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they should not be permitted to reprint stolen, confidential, security related documents.

*yawn*
i feel i have to do my share here.
Julian Assange is not a US citizen and therefore US Laws Does not apply .
Beginning to catch on ?, he could be held responsible for crimes committed IN the US yes, but not AGAINST the us.
So unless he was on US soil and committed a crime there is no case here.

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Not so foreign....

While the activities in this incident are disgusting and deplorable, our governmental 'representatives' are not that appalled by the activities of pimping out young boys, they are only concerned that someone might 'out' their own uber pedophile tendencies that happen in back room power player parties in Washington D.C. This activity is a mentally retarded abuse of control and power. This is the ultimate domination of another human, which not surprisingly, is what most of the people engaged are after in the first place. On those days when they feel like another ADULT has usurped their power through some political game loss, they can return to the sanctity of their boys room and return to power as lord of the poor kid's bungholes. Sick bastards.

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> Censorship would by to say that Assange has no
> right to an opinion. He has all the right to
> express his opinions freely and in public.
> When he accepts stolen documents, and then
> holds and distributes state secrets, well,
> that is another story.

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Mr Assange is not a UK or Swedish citizen either, but remarkably, is behind held behind bars in one regarding acts done in another.

Unless Mr Assange wants to go and hide in one of the few countries that wouldn't extradite him to the US, or perhaps in the cave with his cohort Mr Bin Ladin, then he might be safe from prosecution. Otherwise, he will live a life similar to most outlaws, hiding out, with limited movements, and with no ability to live a real life.

As it is, don't be shocked if the Australian government uses his current incarceration as a way to deliver notice that his passport has been revoked.

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He is currently being held in the UK on behalf of Sweden as he is wanted for questioning on suspicion of having committed a crime while in Sweden.
Is it really that hard to read the fucking news ? or wait, you only watch Fox News right ?

Re: What to do? Well...

What we need is a "Fight this cause site" that will allow people to set up a cause and promote it on Facebook, twitter, etc. With e-mail senator, print and mail senator, Send this guy a dead fish, etc buttons. History, a meetings and calender function, phone numbers for officials and corporations involved.

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how exactly does a statement that any military or political party that was aware of these events and allowed them to proceed should be held accountable equate to damming the entire world?
what exactly does this have to do with afghan poppies being turned into heroin? i get the tenuous connection you are trying to make, but its one thing for "everyone to know heroin comes from afghanistan" and thus holding every single person in the world accountable when they have nothing to do with either its production or distribution and/or failing to do something to stop it when they have no such power to do so... its quite a different thing to have military operations and us policy makers aware of an illegal and immoral practice (immoral based on current societal standards)and turn a blind eye to it.

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Well I didn't say that the government is unaccountable.

Remember, this is a cultural practice that has gone on supposedly for centuries. The US can't just bust into one of these parties, save all the children and impose our cultural norms on the Afghans and expect them to accept it. This stuff, as shocking as it is to us, is, well....delicate.

Who knows what the real story is here? But the Frontline documentary covering this topic is informative.

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Sadly, the whole drug trade argument you've got there is rather weak. I'll assume you're trying to say that heroin (and/or it's use) itself is highly damaging and life-ruining, it's not. There are many other factors involved. Usually when one starts abusing a drug, there is already some other sort of deep psychological trauma that led them to the abuse/addiction of whatever substance that happened to meet his/her fancy. Case in point, Portugal. http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,00.html and http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10080 Read it, it's quite entertaining I would think.

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"Remember, this is a cultural practice that has gone on supposedly for centuries. The US can't just bust into one of these parties, save all the children and impose our cultural norms on the Afghans and expect them to accept it. This stuff, as shocking as it is to us, is, well....delicate. "

If I as a private citizen, travel to Thailand to have sex with minors (boys or girls) the US govt. will arrest me when I get back. I guess companies that actually facilitate this in Afghanistan are exempt?

If an American bribes a foreigner, they are breaking a US Law, but I guess pimping out Afghan children is ok?

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Watergate, Iran Contras where illegal should those people too be punished or celebrated?

Any harm that comes from transparency will be less harm then no transparency at all.

How many true crimes people will hide to save their on asses?

Those are not, common citizens, those are people supposed to carry on the will of their people and they hold immense power, and abuse it frequently for their own selfish purposes with serious consequences to everyone and you want them to be able to hide?

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"Remember, this is a cultural practice that has gone on supposedly for centuries. The US can't just bust into one of these parties, save all the children and impose our cultural norms on the Afghans and expect them to accept it. This stuff, as shocking as it is to us, is, well....delicate. "

I hope you are being sarcastic or a troll because I can understand other people from other cultures doing things that abhor us, what can't accept is people from our own, that have full knowledge of how people view those kind of thing doing it for whatever the reason.

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Nobody wants to censor wikileaks.

You really haven't been paying attention have you?

Let's spell it out so even an anonymous coward can understand. Our government has been using its national security blanket to cover up illegal activity by its contractors overseas. The administration classified the evidence to hide wrongdoing. Under normal circumstances they would be called out by our free media but that industry is too busy sucking off the administration to do their jobs so it's up to organizations like Wikileaks to fill the role of the Third Estate.

Worse than using their power to hide wrongdoing, they were caught using their power to hide wrongdoing. And worse than that, they were caught by an outsider like Wikileaks instead of by our own news companies who should have been on the case!

And now our administration is using its power to suppress the evidence of its wrongdoing instead of bringing the real criminals to justice.

George Orwell, 1984, Book 1, Chapter 3

"Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date. In this way every prediction made by the Party could be shown by documentary evidence to have been correct; nor was any item of news, or any expression of opinion, which conflicted with the needs of the moment, ever allowed to remain on record. All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary."

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"If I as a private citizen, travel to Thailand to have sex with minors (boys or girls) the US govt. will arrest me when I get back. I guess companies that actually facilitate this in Afghanistan are exempt?"

Whoa. Slow your roll.

No. Thats actually not true. Thailand can arrest you. But the crime is out of the US's jurisdiction. That's why they don't arrest every US citizen who flies in from a vacation in Amsterdam or Jamaica smelling of weed...

As far as the second point, I am not sure where you got the impression that I support the "pimping out of children". All responsible parties should be held accountable, and I have stated that. I am simply looking at this from a critical, rather than emotional perspective.

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It is clear. The little boys thing is merely a distraction, a shiny object meant to distract you from the reality that Wikileaks may be breaking the law, and at a minimum, is aware that the law was broken to give them documents they are not legally allowed to possess.

I put little boys up against the fields of poppies, which harm millions of people around the world, including the children of addicts and addicts under 18. In many cases, the military (and private contractors) specifically ignore the poppy fields, or even help to make it safe enough for the harvests to take place. I could go on.

The point is that there are all sorts of criminal actions all over the world. None of them mitigates or somehow takes away the seriousness of the actions of Wikileaks. This entire TD post is intended to do so. It's not information, it's rhetoric at it's finest, nothing more, and nothing less.

The United States has risen to take legislative action against the growing evils of child sex tourism. In 1994, Congress established 18 U.S.C. § 2423(b), which is aimed towards prosecution of child sex tourists. Section 2423(b) criminalizes traveling abroad for the purpose of engaging in illegal sexual activity with a minor.

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Actually, US law ends at the border, but since the document theft started in the US, everyone attached to it is in the same deep crap. Assange may be playing games by having no fixed address and trying to live in the cracks, but in the end, he is still part of a conspiracy to obtain and distribute classified documents.

Anyone else notice that he appears to be running a bit of a cult of personality? This image: http://wikileaks.ch/img/ja-main.jpg seems to be more about selling him and his personal stand rather than the actual content.

You know, you can't help but be scared. In the name of "national security," peoples' basic civil rights are being shat on. If our government has committed sins to others and to the world, they should, indeed, be exposed, acted upon, and corrected. Shrouding immoral government policy under the guise of secrecy while ruining the life of a man with unimaginably false sexual charges is completely unruly and wrong. It is my hope that both sides in the matter shall be reprimanded, though I hope it does not come at the life of this man.

Was not Dyncorp involved in similar activities in the Balkans back in the 1990's when concerned persons at the location brought to light Dyncorps involvement in child slavery for emplyment purposes and sexual gratification of adulrt persons. One Kathryn Bolkovac was sacked from her job for revealing the matter, and little else done.

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Less than 1/250th of the documents have been released. But the releasing of said documents is illegal and if it shows illegal activity, well, it's just merely a distraction from the releasing part? Not, in this case, the raping part?

Dynacorp

I think there's $2 billion that can quickly and easily be cut from the budget/US deficit.. the US government wouldn't want to be charged with child pornography, child molestation, contributing to the delinquency of minors, indecency or any of the other multitudinous charges that qualify if this happened on US soil. How can we say that children in any other country deserve to be treated less than our own and still hold up our heads with American pride? (rhetorical question - the answer is we can't/couldn't and shouldn't).

Our country was not founded on double-standards, we shouldn't condone double standards now (as in if anyone BUT the US government tried to get away with this behavior (not that we would), we'd be prosecuted to the full extent of the law). Being the government isn't a good enough reason for an exception. I AM the people and government representatives are to serve the interests and needs of the people (you and me), not their own bank accounts.

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Hey stupid people...the muslims are trying to kill you. these are not idle threats. they intend on obtaining nukes and setting one off right in your back yard. wikileaks is attempting to force our military to fragment itself by closing or restricting the free-flow of intelligence between branches so that our military is less efficient. That makes it easier fr the bad guys to kill us. stop acting like a bunch of college sophomores and wake up.

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Why not just sum up with "9/11!!!"

First, 'Muslims' are not trying to kill us... radical branches of the Muslim faith are... or were, since we haven't really seen much success from their camps recently, have we? If you want to continue with the stereotyping and racism, I recommend the application of a brick to your head. Works wonders.

Second, wikileaks is NOT trying to weaken America. They are trying to facilitate transparency so that crimes like the one leaked here don't go unnoticed or unpunished. And that's a bad thing?

Third, if the release of these acts is fragmenting our military or government, then MAYBE OUR MILITARY AND GOVERNMENT SHOULD STOP DOING BAD THINGS! Are you seriously trying to pass the blame of these horrible actions onto the person who brought it to light? Really?

And let me go a bit deeper on that one... are you saying wikileaks is forcing the military to close down it's communications to make it harder for wikileaks to get at it? Ok... so why the hell do they need to hide what they're saying? WL has never leaked anything except the horrible actions that need the light of day. If the military is closing down inter-branch communications, then as I said before, maybe they should think about what they're trying to hide.

Now, if you're quite done trolling, please go back under your bridge, wrap yourself up in the flag and rock yourself to sleep whimpering about how they're coming to get you.

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Its the price of doing business.

Except there's this annoying law called the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, that expressly prohibits this. Even if it's "the cost of doing business" it is prohibited, and the company stands to lose a TON of money for it.

dyn corp needs to be investigated further

I am a previous dyn corp employee, and can say the amount of corruption and general sloppy management of Dyn Corps contracts is staggering. I would receive emails DAILY from contractors in the field about workers taken into backrooms by management and beat and sexually abused. When they tried to report it they were told theyd be sent to an afghani jail for trumpt up charges. People are being lied to about what their pay will be and their job conditions. We had two pass away because they were sent to a hot zone that was deemed unsafe for contractors. if somebody doesnt review their actions soon another incident like this will come up i garuntee it.

The nature of a unidirectional tension... :)

Hi,
The curious thing about the way things work for the hypocrits is that they will say do this and then they go do the opposite. This generates a unidirectional tension in the mass consciousness which is continually being increased in strain. (not unlike how electricity potentials between the earth and a cloud will build up before a lightning discharge.) The result will be either a controlled or an explosive correction to the skewed aspect of our group reality. The only side left with some rationality in thought is the one that doesn't side with either the victims or the hypocrits. (aka the public or the bankers/illuminati) It will be interesting to watch how things progress. Capitalisms true purpose is now being seen. Divide, conquer, control. I'm just hoping the correction isn't to far off.

This clearly shows that we are living in stone age not in modern age. The activities done by these sort of companies are shameful. These sort of activities are supporting "Might is Right" and obviously the people who are supporting this must know that time never same all the time and might be one day future generation of these people may face the same thing.

Therefore I would say we all must say no to these sort of activities which DynCorp is doing and strongly condemn them.

Its an afgan tradition, nothing to do with the US..

I saw a documentary on this, it has nothing to do with the US, and the "pimps" are afganis, and the 'prostitutes' are volentary, and they ARE DANCERS ONLY..

there is simply NO WAY, that a US citizen, would be able to "assume the role of a pimp" in this situation..

This article has been writting by someone, (again), that does not HAVE A FREAKING clue about what is actually happening.. and who does not care to find out...

So there IS NOT WAY in the world, that the US would be "pimping" these kids...

It is part of afgan culture, again, it has nothing to do with the US, it has been happening for thousands of years there, well before the US even existed..

And mike you know how bad it is when you have to refer to other "crimes" in an attempt to mitigate something else that you support...

The US in afgan, got a 'PASS' for the simple fact, they did not break any laws.. Those 'dancers' have been doing that for thousands of years, they are volentary, well looked after, protected... it would not be possible for a non-afgan to have any control over them.

And US laws do not apply there, so if no law is broken, and the US can easily prove they were not the "pimps", (easy to prove as its not possible).

Then what can they be charged on Mike ??? NOT breaking a law ??

But trying to compare assange with US military, is a joke, ,and reflects your lack of knowledge of the real world..

Like your stupid claims that the US would be cheering if Assange was attacking China..

You are a fool if you think China and the US do not have a VERY VERY VERY close relationship..

Who the hell do you think PAY you guys in the US for the last 10 years or so ??

Not freaking yourselves, you cant even balance your books !!!..

So no each US citizen man, woman, or child, own China at least $30,000 each.. EACH....

China does not have to bomb the US to destroy it,, it simply just has to ask for its money back...... now..

America could not pay, so china would say ok, we'll seize your assets, or your country as well need some more space..

And dont try to attack us, because we'll also stop paying your military, and funding your continuous wars, against nothing..

Or china will just one day say, we are sick of lending your money, go screw yourself, you're not getting any more..

Result, America collapses.. which it will anyway,, its just a matter of time. if not allready..

murder?

So the info about the US government selling children as sex slaves in afghanistan goes public and just a short while later the "special envoy" to afghanistan suddenly decides to develop a split aorta and conveniently dies before he can be forced to answer any questions.....

dyncorps

my brother marine sniper with a medal of valor and a christian background went to work for dyncorps the last time he came home alive he bought two assault rifles and thousands of rounds and showed his family how to use to defend the home that was his last time home he spoke of something bad happening and he was gonna go to the supervisor there are more details but the rundown he was shot in the head execution style from beyond three feet the bullet untraceable. dyncorps damage control team stepped in armed and dangerous. HELP!!